The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory

     I have apparently been on both a historical fiction kick and an Anne Boleyn kick. To be honest, I picked up The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn because I couldn’t find this particular book at the library. I found a copy at the local Goodwill though which made my day. I’ve seen the movie a half dozen times at least and wanted to see how the book compared. It’s much like what happened when I saw Memoirs of a Geisha. The book contains way more information than the movie and if you like the movie, you need to read the book. The movie got the major points correct but it left out many little details as well as having a small issue with the timing of events.

     This book tells the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry the VIII from the perspective of Anne’s sister, Mary. It begins with 12 year old Mary witnessing her uncle’s execution and believing he will be pardoned at the last minute. A few years pass with details of the family, Mary’s marriage, calling Anne back from France, and generally introducing their family and explaining how the Court works and why things are the way they are. Mary catches the attention of Henry and is moved out of her husband’s rooms and into her own so that she can be at the king’s disposal and any kids are obviously Henry’s. The rest of the book is a bit love story and a bit drama. When Mary gets pregnant and can’t sleep with the king until after she gives birth, her sister starts to catch Henry’s attention and eventually leads the story to it’s conclusion. There are about 15 years between the beginning of the novel and the end; be prepared at nearly 700 pages, it’s a long book.

     It seems from all the reviews I’ve read, this is a book that is either hated or loved, there is no in between with this one. It has gotten a lot of insults for not being accurate. Those people seem to be missing the point of it being historical fiction. Fiction (not real) being the key word. Also, this took place 500 years ago. There’s no way to know for certain the tiny little details of what happened back then, even the details of whether or not Mary was the youngest or oldest Boleyn is in dispute. The character of Mary was kind of a wimp and very naïve compared to Anne but she grows a backbone eventually. The writing was engaging and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you liked the movie or historical fiction in general, this book is definitely a must read.